Sherry, a 28-year-old mother of two, wrote an interesting post on her blog last month about an exchange with a cashier who essentially felt Sherry should have had an abortion. The conversation was in reference to Sherry’s young son, Gabe, who has Down Syndrome. According to the now-viral blog post, the comment was made during a shopping trip back in January.

Toby, a tertiary educated piano teacher, considers himself a safe user of ecstasy. He likes to know the dealer, or for one of his friends to have bought from that person before, and he prefers caps over pills because he can see the substance through the transparent casing.

The final G20 communique includes a significant passage on climate change after "difficult discussions" among leaders on Sunday, and despite an impassioned defence of coal and fossil fuel industry by prime minister Tony Abbott.

A overlooked dimension of the right-to-die debate is that suicide is no ordinary right, like the right to good health care or the right to a passport. For those who believe in it, helping people to die is a deep personal commitment. And this stunning Swiss documentary suggests that if euthanasia were legalised, true believers would aggressively proselytise and promote it with all the fervour of a religion. It is not something to look forward to.

On Wednesday the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal wrapped up three days of appeal hearings launched by Philip Nitschke, director of the euthanasia lobby group Exit International, against the suspension of his medical registration in July.

The Red Cross is coming under growing pressure to reinstate a long-standing volunteer who was dismissed after staging a one-man protest against gay marriage. MPs have tabled a motion in the Commons voicing “deep concern” at the treatment of Bryan Barkley, 71, from West Yorkshire, and urging the charity to reconsider.

Labor leader Daniel Andrews says he won't form government with the Greens, despite an offer from Greens leader Greg Barber. Mr Barber said his party would be prepared to work conditionally with a Labor government.

Boko Haram has seized the town of Chibok in Borno state, northeast Nigeria, from where 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped more than six months ago, a local pastor and a senator told AFP Friday. "Chibok was taken by Boko Haram. They are in control," said Enoch Mark, a Christian pastor whose daughter and niece are among the 219 teenagers still being held.

The spectacle of a woman being forcibly ejected from what is ostensibly a Christian cathedral for proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord just before Muslim prayers are about to begin is at very least evidence that we live in strange times.

Bikini-clad hairdressers, a complimentary can of beer, a handful of snacks and highlights of cage-fighting, Crusty Demons and State of Origin. But critics of the region’s first bikini barbershop have labelled it degrading to staff and unlikely to succeed.